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The Ecosystem

HomeWhat is Longleaf?The EcosystemHabitats

Habitats

Longleaf pine forests covered an extensive geographical range. Perhaps what is taken for granted is how diverse this forest type was (and is) across the landscape.

Seeing longleaf pine forests today, many people often (erroneously) assume that the species is relegated to dry sandy ridges or steep south-facing slopes. On the contrary, areas too steep, too dry to farm or too poor to grow loblolly or slash pine are, for the most part, merely a vestige of the richness that once was the longleaf pine ecosystem.

For thousands of years, subtle differences in soils and topography influenced fire behavior, site productivity etc. This affected the composition of the forest, e.g., groundcover plants, insect and animal species, and tree height, to name a few.

These habitat types can generically be lumped into four groups: montane, sandhill, rolling hill, and flatwoods/savannas. Follow the links below to learn more about these remarkable habitats of the longleaf pine ecosystem.

Montane  |  Sandhills  |  Rolling Hills  |  Flatwoods/Savannas

Montane

Berry College - montane old growth 2

Montane longleaf pine was found dominating the southern and southwestern slopes (though not confined to them) and ridgelines up to about 2000 ft. elevation in north Alabama and northwest Georgia. This habitat also includes an isolated ridge starting at Pine Mountain, GA and extending to Thomson, GA. Since much of longleaf pine's northern boundary is found in this habitat type, the forest is seen to subtly grade from a pure longleaf pine overstory to an overstory of mixed southern pines at its fringes. About 20 % of the pre-settlement longleaf pine ecosystem was covered by this habitat type.

Soils

The soils in which montane longleaf grow are well drained with beds of flinty pebbles, sandstone ridges and even rock outcrops. In particular, they grow on rocky ridges and slopes that contains sandstone, quartzite, phyllite, mica schist and gneiss.

Common Plants

Broomstraws, bluestems, goat's rue, bracken ferns, rushes, sedges, and sensitive briar

Common Trees and Shrubs

Scarlet oak, mountain blueberry, mountain laurel, American chestnut, blackjack oak, Virginia pine, shortleaf pine, pig nut hickory, mockernut hickory, rock chestnut oak, and southern red oak

Fire Frequency

One to five years; fire either crept down ridgelines or roared up steep slopes

Without Fire

Quickly turns into a hardwood/mixed pine forest (especially Virginia and shortleaf pines)

Sandhills

Walthour Moss Sandhills

The Sandhills are characterized as ridges of loose, porous sand that begin in southern Virginia and runs through west Georgia at about 500 to 600 feet above sea level. Isolated sand ridges also exist in the Florida panhandle and peninsula. Longleaf pine sandhills are characterized as a forest of widely spaced pine trees with a fire-stunted understory of deciduous (scrub) oaks and a sparse to continuous ground cover of bunchgrasses and herbs. Today, sandhill longleaf sites make up some of the largest acreages of the remaining longleaf pine habitat (despite comprising roughly 10% of the original landscape).

Soils

Sandhill soils are droughty, deep beds of white sands that are relatively low in fertility and result (often) in lower species diversity and usually shorter longleaf pine. In some areas sands can be 2-15 feet deep. In some areas of the Carolinas, sands can be 100 - 150 feet deep without changing.

Common Plants

Pricky pear cactus, wiregrass, bluestems, hairsedge, piney woods dropseed, gopher apple, golden aster, hairawn muhly, pineland phlox, sandhill lupine, bird's foot violet, dwarf iris, fringed bluestar, pinebarren frostweed, pineland wild indigo, man-root (morning glory), sandhill roseling, orange-fringed orchids, yellow-eyed grasses, narrowleaf sabatia, threadleaf gererdia, goat's rue, butterfly pea, and Carolina indigo

Common Trees and Shrubs

Turkey oak, bluejack oak, southern red oak, blackjack oak, sand post oak, myrtle oak, Arkansas oak, mockernut hickory, sand hickory, black cherry, sassafras, blackberry, sparkleberry, persimmon, low-bush blueberry, and pawpaw

Fire Frequency

Two to seven years carried almost exclusively by bunch grasses

Without Fire

Usually succeeds to canopy-dominated by scrub oaks (like turkey oak)

Rolling Hills

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Characterized as having a sufficiently rolling habitat to insure good drainage. Often very productive sites capable of producing excellent longleaf pine timber. Found at 130 to 250 feet above sea level. It is speculated that 30% of the pre-settlement landscape was rolling hill habitat.

Soils

Brown, sandy loam uplands 10 - 15 inches in depth, often with fossiliferous materials. In some areas, the underlying parent material is limestone. Occasionally, limestone pushes through the sandy loam and forms outcroppings.

Common Plants

Beargrass, bluestems, wiregrass, rattlebox, dollar pea, lespedeza, candyroot, procession flower, orange milkwort, pinebarren, and goldenrod

Common Trees and Shrubs

Blackjack oak, turkey oak, willow oak, sand post oak, southern red oak, Florida dogwood, mockernut hickory, black hickory, persimmon, gallberry, yaupon, and wax myrtle

Fire Frequency

One to three years; numerous native bunchgrasses to help carry fire

Without Fire

Hardwoods (often willow oak or sweet gum) capture the forest midstory and overstory shading out ground cover plants

Flatwoods and Savannas

20190126_111421

Characterized as high-density, longleaf pine-dominated forests, the surface is very level, poorly drained and often interspersed with frequent and (sometimes large) swampy patches or wet prairies. Flatwoods can start just above the tidewater and extend inland to about 130 feet above sea level. Productivity is high and longleaf pines reach heights above 120 feet. This longleaf pine habitat type has the highest diversity of ground cover of herbs and shrubs. Since the soils are relatively poorly drained and typically have low reserves of available nutrients, numerous orchids and carnivorous plants are common in the ground cover. These habitats are often described as both the Atlantic Coastal Flatwoods and the Gulf Coastal Flatwoods.

Soils

With moderately to poorly drained terrain, the soils are typically acidic, have low reserves of available nutrients, are low in organic matter content, and maintain an ash-colored silty clay appearance.

Common Plants

Tarflower, wiregrass, toothache grass, bluestems, silk grass, hatpins, muhly grass, pineweeds, pitcher plants, sundews, flytraps, Catesby's lily, white star grass, morning glory, milkweeds, quail pea, butterfly pea, goat's rue, lespedezas, iron weed, and deer tongue

Common Trees and Shrubs

Water oak, sweet gum, red maple, ash, saw palmetto, gallberry, fetterbush, wax myrtle, yaupon, ilex, dwarf live oak, sweet bay, titi, southern magnolia, persimmon, black gum, creeping blueberry, blackberry.

BROWSE THIS SECTION

  • The Tree
    • Life Stages
    • The Economics
    • The History
    • The Misconceptions
  • The Ecosystem
    • Built by Fire
    • Habitats
    • Species Diversity
  • Restoration & Management
    • Groundcover Restoration
    • Herbicides
    • Longleaf Regeneration
    • Prescribed Fire
  • Photo Gallery

From our feed

The Longleaf Alliance is excited to introduce our The Longleaf Alliance is excited to introduce our new field team assisting the reticulated flatwoods salamander project on Escribano Point Widllife Management Area in Florida 🎉🥳🎉The Ambystoma bishopi (AMBBIS) Restoration Team, or A.R.T. for short, will be part of the greater AMBBIS team and primarily work on wetland restoration goals for the reticulated flatwoods salamander.This full-time team consists of all returning staff: Haley Welshoff, ART crew lead, and biological restoration technicians Abe Huang, Kameron Burgess, and Sean Seid. These veteran team members have certainly gotten wetland restoration down to an ART-formMore at https://longleafalliance.org/welcome-art/#WorldWetlandsDay #RestoreWetlands #longleafalliance
Last week, The Longleaf Alliance and @nationalwild Last week, The Longleaf Alliance and @nationalwildlife introduced a new Academy type – Longleaf & the Landowner.We were thrilled to work with the 2022 Gjerstad/Johnston Landowner of the Year award winner, Herbert Hodges and the Willie Hodges Estate Family Farm, who opened the doors to the farm that has been in the family since the 1890s to hold the 3-day event.The course was designed with underserved landowners and land stewards in mind.  The ~40 attendees learned about site preparation, longleaf and fire, planting techniques, managing for wildlife habitat, a historical perspective on black land loss and retention in the South, heirs property concerns, and connecting with resources to guide a landowner through the myriad of cost-share programs and other types of assistance and guidance available. Academy graduates completed the week with palpable enthusiasm to continue learning, and we look forward to working with partners around the range to bring this program, and ones like it, to additional communities in the longleaf range!We couldn’t have done this without the expertise provided by our partners: the U.S. Forest Service - @gatrees - @georgiawildlife - Natural Resources Conservation Service - Georgia Heirs Property Law Center - Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation - @thetrcp - @mcintoshseed - and the Longleaf for All working group under America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative. Read more about the Hodges > https://longleaf.info/Hodges#LongleafAcademy #LongleafForAll #LongleafLandowner #restorelongleaf
We are pumped to share that there are even MORE op We are pumped to share that there are even MORE opportunities to learn about and see prescribed fire in action coming up in Georgia. Sign for one (or mulitple events!!!!) that work for your location and schedule.🔥 Swainsboro, GA | Week of Feb 7th > https://longleaf.info/Swainsboro🔥 Milford, GA | Feb 25th, rain date March 4th > https://longleaf.info/Milford🔥 Baxley, GA | March 3rd, rain date March 10th > https://longleaf.info/events🔥 Waynesboro, GA | March 17th, rain date March 24th > https://longleaf.info/events
In 2018, The Alliance's Wetland Ecosystem Support In 2018, The Alliance's Wetland Ecosystem Support Team (WEST) formed to restore isolated wetlands in the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership (GCPEP). Since then we've had 15+ team members improve wetlands with mechanical/chemical treatments and prescribed fire, working through very demanding weather and habitat conditions.December 2022 marked a milestone as WEST completed their final multi-year Florida State Wildlife Grant, far exceeding grant deliverables in all areas. WEST's work benefitted many wildlife species, but especially the reticulated flatwoods salamander and the Florida bog frog. From 2018-2022, WEST was the under direction of The Alliance's Natural Resource Supervisor Kaiden Spurlock with many staff playing a role over the years, including team leads Jessica Sandoval, Ed O'Daniels, Nicole Barys and Kameron Burgess.Thank you WEST for your hard work and lasting impact on the GCPEP landscape. 👏👏👏Check out more WEST photos through the years at longleafalliance.org > news (link in bio) P.S. Stay tuned for more TLA field team news this week!#longleafalliance #prescribedburn #goodfire #prescribedfire #restorelongleaf #restorewetlands
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